diff --git a/docs/advanced/classes.rst b/docs/advanced/classes.rst index 20760b704..70393b55e 100644 --- a/docs/advanced/classes.rst +++ b/docs/advanced/classes.rst @@ -768,13 +768,17 @@ An instance can now be pickled as follows: p.setExtra(15) data = pickle.dumps(p, 2) -Note that only the cPickle module is supported on Python 2.7. The second -argument to ``dumps`` is also crucial: it selects the pickle protocol version -2, since the older version 1 is not supported. Newer versions are also fine—for -instance, specify ``-1`` to always use the latest available version. Beware: -failure to follow these instructions will cause important pybind11 memory -allocation routines to be skipped during unpickling, which will likely lead to -memory corruption and/or segmentation faults. + +.. note:: + Note that only the cPickle module is supported on Python 2.7. + + The second argument to ``dumps`` is also crucial: it selects the pickle + protocol version 2, since the older version 1 is not supported. Newer + versions are also fine—for instance, specify ``-1`` to always use the + latest available version. Beware: failure to follow these instructions + will cause important pybind11 memory allocation routines to be skipped + during unpickling, which will likely lead to memory corruption and/or + segmentation faults. .. seealso:: @@ -784,6 +788,38 @@ memory corruption and/or segmentation faults. .. [#f3] http://docs.python.org/3/library/pickle.html#pickling-class-instances +Deepcopy support +================ + +Python normally uses references in assignments. Sometimes a real copy is needed +to prevent changing all copies. The ``copy`` module [#f5]_ provides these +capabilities. + +On Python 3, a class with pickle support is automatically also (deep)copy +compatible. However, performance can be improved by adding custom +``__copy__`` and ``__deepcopy__`` methods. With Python 2.7, these custom methods +are mandatory for (deep)copy compatibility, because pybind11 only supports +cPickle. + +For simple classes (deep)copy can be enabled by using the copy constructor, +which should look as follows: + +.. code-block:: cpp + + py::class_(m, "Copyable") + .def("__copy__", [](const Copyable &self) { + return Copyable(self); + }) + .def("__deepcopy__", [](const Copyable &self, py::dict) { + return Copyable(self); + }, "memo"_a); + +.. note:: + + Dynamic attributes will not be copied in this example. + +.. [#f5] https://docs.python.org/3/library/copy.html + Multiple Inheritance ====================